Main CPU : MC68000 @ 16MHz & MC68000 @ 12MHz
Sound CPU : Z80 @ 4MHz (optional)
Sound chip : YM2610
Video resoution : 320x240
CPU Notes : The first 68000 handles screen, palette and sprites, and sometimes other jobs [e.g. inputs; in one game it also handles the road] The second 68000 handles functions such as inputs/dips, sound and/or the "road" that's in every TaitoZ game except Spacegun.
Graphics Notes : The Taito Z system has a number of similarities with the Taito F2 system, and uses some of the same custom Taito components.
Taito Z supports 5 separate layers of graphics - one 64x64 tiled scrolling background plane of 8x8 tiles, a similar foreground plane, another optional plane used for drawing a road (e.g. Chasehq), a sprite plane (with varying properties), and a text plane with character definitions held in ram.
(Double Axle has four rather than two background planes, and they contain 32x32 16x16 tiles. This is because it uses a TC0480SCP rather than the older TC0100SCN tilemap generator used in previous Taito Z games. The hardware for Taito's Super Chase was a further development of this, with a 68020 for main CPU and Ensoniq sound - standard features of Taito's F3 system. Taito's F3 system superceded both Taito B and F2 systems, but the Taito Z system was enhanced with F3 features and continued in games like Super Chase and Under Fire up to the mid 1990s.)
Sprite Notes : The sprites are typically 16x8 tiles aggregated through a spritemap rom into bigger sizes. Spacegun has 64x64 sprites, but some of the games use different (128x128) or even multiple sizes. Some of the games aggregate 16x16 tiles to create their sprites, suggesting there is no standard object chip.System Pictures : CPU Board - Video BoardEmulators : MAME